As soon as I took a step towards the house, I felt a familiar pain at the back of my head. I know it's happening again. After losing my balance and my vision going black, I feel myself lying on a soft bed. I hear beeping sounds. I'm not in Oasis anymore.
The first person I saw is Blair's nurse. She looked astounded when she saw me waking up. She quickly dialed on her phone and called someone. "Sir, she woke up. Patient Aerith is awake!"
"Where am I?" I asked. And what did she call me? Patient Aerith? I looked at the machine and the IV drip attached to my right hand. "Where's my sister?"
Again, the nurse looked at me as if it's her first time meeting me. When me and Blair first came to the hospital, this nurse was the one who took care of us. Why is she suddenly like this?
"Do you know where Blair is?" I asked again.
Instead of answering, she continued talking to the person on the phone. "She's asking for someone. Please, hurry up."
The door suddenly opened. More nurses came in and surrounded me. Blair's nurse finally ended the call and slowly approached me. "Hi, Ms. Aerith. I'm Nurse Maya. Do you feel any pain right now?"
"No. What's happening? Why do I have this thing connected to me? Is there something wrong with me?" I asked while pointing at the machine. It hurts whenever I move my right hand.
"Don't worry, the doctor will explain that to you. Please relax. The doctor is on his way."
"I don't need this. Please get this off me. I have to find my sister."
"I'm afraid we can't let you do that," Nurse Maya said. "We're on strict orders to not let you leave the hospital."
"Why?"
"Because you're our patient."
What? "I'm not your patient. My sister WAS your patient."
The nurses smirked and shook their heads. Nurse Maya lowered her voice and said, "What are you talking about? You don't have a sister."
I blinked a few times before trying to get away from them. "Perhaps you don't remember me, Nurse Maya, but I'm Aerith. Blair's younger sister. Blair was your patient who's in a coma. I'm certainly not a patient here."
She looked at her fellow nurses. "As you can see, this is the result of her hallucinations. Kindly take notes."
"No! I'm not a patient here!" I tried pulling the IV needle. The pain almost tore my hand off. All of them stopped me and no matter how hard I try to resist, I couldn't overpower them.
"You can all calm down now, I'm here." A voice came from the door. They finally removed their hands off me. I looked at the guy that just spoke. He's wearing a white coat which gave me the idea that he was the doctor they were talking about. With his overgrown dark hair and piercing green eyes, I know I shouldn't trust this guy.
"Why the hell do they think that I'm a patient here? Get this machine off me and let me go!"
"Doctor, she thinks she's not a patient here and she believes she has a sister named Blair," Nurse Maya whispered. The guy nodded and ordered them to leave the room. As soon as the nurses leave, and as soon as me and Doctor are left alone in this room, he made me promise to hear him out first. I reluctantly agreed.
He told me that I've been his patient for a month now. I was in a coma for a month. I don't have any family left which means I'm an orphan, which means I don't have a sister. Which means there's no Blair.
"Whatever that you thought you were, must be a product of your dreams. It sometimes happens to patients like you."
"But I was not in a coma. I'm telling the truth! Why are you doing this to me?"
"That's your mind making you believe your dreams," he said. "Now, I'm going to give you medicine to make you feel better."
"I don't need medicine! I'm not sick."
"That's what my patients always say. You're sick. That's why you're here." He turned around while getting the medicine that he was talking about. That's when I saw it. He has a tattoo behind his left ear. The same tattoo that I saw from the guy that took my sister. A black and white sunflower.
HE'S ONE OF THEM.
I quickly braced myself and pulled the IV off my hand. I started sprinting out of the room. I feel the blood running down from where the IV drip was inserted. I am running without really knowing where to go. I hear the hospital's alarm going off. From the intercom, they're announcing that a patient is on the run.
"Aerith!"
I turned around and saw a familiar face. "Cyd?!"
"Over here!" he gestured for me to run towards the staircase.
"What's happening?" I asked while running down. I hope this'll lead us out of this hospital. I noticed that the walls are different. I know for sure that we're in a different hospital now.
"I don't know. I just woke up with nurses surrounding me and a doctor forcing me to drink medicine."
"Wait," I stopped and stepped back, away from him. "Why would I believe you?"
He looked at me incredulously. "Because I tried to save you! I'm not going to be here if I didn't try to help you! I saw you when you were trying to fight off those guys that took your sister. While a guy was beating you up, I was about to step in, but they saw me. So, they also knocked me down and took me. You basically brought me here!"
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Alright, I'm sorry but I don't know them. I don't know why they took my sister. I don't know what they want."
"It looks like they work for a secret organization. When I was looking for you, they attempted to make me believe that I was in a coma and that you're not real."
"Then we have to leave this place. We're not safe here."
"Yes, but we must treat that first," he said while pointing at my right hand. I forgot that it was still bleeding. He took out a gauze from his pocket and gave it to me. "The pressure will stop it from bleeding you out."
"Do you know where they took us?" I asked.
"I don't have any idea at all," he answered. "But I peeked outside the window while I was running away from them. It looks like this place is surrounded by a forest. I don't see any building near us."
"Okay. We just need to get out of here, run pass the forest, and then look for help."
He nodded. We started running down again. After a few flights of stairs, we finally arrived on the ground floor and saw the exit sign.
"Finally!" I said. After all of this, I will look for Blair. Maybe, if she finally wakes up, everything that is happening now will stop. Opening the emergency exit lead us outside the hospital.
But they are already there. Waiting for us.
"You can't just leave this place, Aerith," the doctor said. "What about your sister?"
"She's… here?"
"Where else would we take her?"